Another figure highlights the hollow and socially regressive
character of Obama’s so-called “recovery.” The financial cable network
CNBC pointed out that according to the Labor Department’s household
survey, which is the basis for the unemployment rate figure (the figure
on payroll growth is derived from a separate survey of business
establishments), full-time jobs increased in February by only 65,000,
while part-time positions increased by 489,000. This means that a mere
11.7 percent of new jobs in February were full-time!
These statistics point to the fact that the American ruling class,
through its instrument, the Obama administration, has utilized the
financial crash of 2008, for which it was responsible, to fundamentally
reorganize the US economy, transforming it into a low-wage system. The
millions of decent-paying jobs that were destroyed have been largely
replaced by poverty-wage, part-time and temporary jobs.
-- Barry Grey, "US employment report: Payrolls rise, wages fall" (WSWS).